In the gloom War Eagle asked, “so whatcha’ got planned for today’s workout, Cooter?” I went on to explain how I got talked into running in the Palmetto 200 relay race in March (I’m in way over my head…) and how today my training schedule says I’m supposed to run 6 miles of Hills. War Eagle shot back, “That’s not my problem!” I then displayed my new reflective running vest to all when Olaf quipped, “did they only have size small?” Tough crowd. It was time so we launched.
Side note> I’ve always heard veteran Pax tell stories of how they went from fat and lazy to running half marathons after joining F3 and many times they attribute their success to other Pax “talking them into” doing something that feels impossible to them at the time. One of the other Pax believed in them enough to ask them to step way out of their comfort zone and try to do something that sounds crazy. I’ve always enjoyed those stories. Now I can say I’ve had that happen to me. After the Makeshift 10k a few months ago, I was enjoying my runners high and began running off at the mouth to Blackbeard about how I’d like to do “one of those relays” one day. Once I managed to get a couple of 10ks under my belt I felt 10 feet tall and bullet proof, I guess. The next day, Blackbeard texted me asking if I’d like to do the Palmetto 200 relay with him and 7 other Pax in late March. “You can totally do it”, he said. I initially thought he was crazy because “I’m not a runner” but he was persistent and said he wasn’t going to leave me alone until I committed. So, as I like to say, I was “talked into doing it”. Thank you, Blackbeard – I think!?! Happy Meal is one of the other 7 Pax who is stepping out for the challenge. Iron Sharpens Iron, and once again I’m thankful for my F3 brothers. Back to the workout now:
10 Pax headed off for COP on the other side of the theatre, soon to be joined by Floor Slappper to make 11.
-SSH x 10
-Hillbilly x 10
-Potato pickers x 10
-Plank Jack Merkins x 10
-MC x 10
Mosey to the Murderhorn and partner up for laps around neighborhood circle. P1 goes left and P2 goes right. Down the hill and meet your partner at the bottom for 5 socially distant hand slap merkins. Back up the hill to the start for plank and wait on the 6. 2 more laps ensued.
Now that we’re warm and toasty, we moseyed over to the top of the Murderhorn for 7’s (burpees at the bottom of the hill at the first street light and monkey humpers at the top of the hill).
Lunge walk, high knees and butt kickers down the hill to the 2nd street light not without a healthy dose of grumbling and mumbling from the Pax. Run back up the hill to the top for some mary. All in, we got about 2 miles of hills in. Nice work! But we’re just getting started.
Mosey down the sidewalk towards Ballantyne Commons and grab some curb for incline merkins. This is the point where Loogie tried to put a stop to me. He was not successful. So we moseyed some more this time over to the fountain for 10 incline merkins w/ the clap (say what?) lead by DranoII, followed by 10 derkins called by Rousey, and since that was so much fun, Floor Slapper lead us in 10 dips to wrap up this set. No one fell into the fountain.
Mosey to Ballantyne Commons entrance to shopping center where Happy Meal lead us in some Mary that was short lived because of the car that wouldn’t stop following us.
We headed back behind the shopping center where YHC called exercises at every speed bump. Thankfully the PAX shouted out the 3 minute warning so we chalked that and headed straight back to the launch. Long run back, but sometimes you just gotta push yourself.
2 miles of hills + 1.3 non-hilly miles = 3.3 miles for the workout + 1.7 miles for the pre-runners = 5 miles in all. Well done.
Moleskin:
I always enjoy the opportunity to push myself and each other at NoE. What a great goup today. Drano, good to see you again, my friend. Thanks for the pre-run push and I hope your calf gets better. Floor Slapper was casually late (per the usual) and then fell right in and started cranking out the work. Mic Check is a beast. Great having you with us on the pre-run and telling us all about how you waded through ice cold water at the Spartan Race. That sounds like it sucked. Olaf, great work today and thanks for taking us out. And btw, I purposefully bought my reflective vest on the petite side as to not mess up all my aerodynamics. Rousey crushed it as usual and he has been quite a force lately. Keep posting and blaring music in your bad@ss car. Circuit City makes it look effortless. Thank you for the opportunity to lead today. Happy Meal was also talked into running the P200. Lord help us all! Teddy, this was no Devil’s Turn but not too shabby, eh? Nice work today. War Eagle, thank you for the pre-run push and always leading by example. And then there’s Loogie. Oh Loogie. You had me scared a few times during the workout. You’re a pretty big ‘ole dude even with your 50 year old shoulder. Respect.
Announcements:
*Blood Drive Feb 18th at Brace YMCA. Sign up on Slack or Mighty Mite will come find you.
*Midriff and Thin Mint are doing a 50k run at some mountain. Sounds terrible. But if you’re into that sort of thing, you can sign up on Slack.
Thanks for humoring me today! God bless you all.
Cooter2
This was the first virtual workout for Bagpipe and all of YHC’s 3rd time using Zoom. It wasn’t pretty but we got it done.
It all started when my M’s new Chromebook wouldn’t hold a WiFi signal in my garage. We were 3 minutes into the workout before YHC realized that the PAX couldn’t hear or see me. Uh oh. That’s when Kirby stepped in to calm the crowd and tell a few jokes while YHC did some technical troubleshooting. This involved (but was not limited to) logging back into the Zoom Room (is that what it’s called?) on YHC’s trusted iPhone. We’re all set now…..wait….YHC kept getting booted from the meeting because my iPhone was using the same weak WiFi signal (duh!). Stupid technology. Switching to iPhone data streaming solved all the problems and off we went and here’s what we did:
COP:
-SSH x 20 IC
-IW x 20 IC
-Hillbilly x 20 IC
-Windmill x 10 IC
-LSS x 20 IC
-Merkin x 10 IC
#1:
5 minute run OYO (of course it’s OYO because this is a virtual workout). I have no idea where everyone else went but I made it a good ways through my neighborhood and back.
#2:
5 one minute exercises:
1. Merkins
2. Heels to Heaven
3. X’s and O’s
4. Flutter
5. Plank
#3:
5 minute run OYO
#4:
5 one minute exercises:
1. Burpees
2. Dolly
3. Box Cutters
4. Chippy Cross
Hard stop at 0610 where Kirby took over for COT and landed the plane with the most awkward namarama on record.
Moleskin:
Overall, I think this was a success. Had it not been for the technical difficulties at the beginning, it would have gone much better. But it was great to see the PAX and get a good workout in. I have not woken up before 7 am in 3 weeks. There’s no substitute for the physical Gloom, but this will do just fine for now. We will adapt. We will move forward. F3 is NOT closed.
Tagalong was the first to greet YHC this morning in the Zoom Room. I got to watch him foam roll his back while admiring his clean garage.
Kirby and War Eagle posted “together” from a fancy shopping center and were so properly socially distanced that they had to log in on separate devices. I enjoyed the music that was playing in the background.
Cottonmouth joined us a few minutes late after having some log in problems; which Kirby was able to resolve. Cottonmouth jumped right in with 2 virtual feet and didn’t miss a beat. Cottonmouth, my apologies to you. Last night at about 10:30pm I was doing a dry run in the Zoom Room (which ultimately did no good 😂) when an Ed Hannon entered the meeting. I had just recently read about the phenomenon of Zoom Crashing so I got scared and logged out. I even Googled your name. Did you know you’re the COO of a major company in the Greater New York Area? Now I’ll never forget your hospital name. 👌
Mighty Mite gave YHC from tips from his Swole virtual Q on Monday. Much appreciated, Mighty! Especially the one about making sure another PAX is watching Slack to help others get logged into Zoom. That’s why Kirby did what he did. Cottonmouth thanks you as well.
Bucky was so excited that he couldn’t sleep last night. He was posting about the workout at 3:22am. Not sure but that may be why he needed to workout beside a 32 pack box of TP? 💩 He is well stocked. Seriously though, thanks for promoting this workout and showing up to put the work in!
Tuck is a beast. He met with every Site Q this past week to formulate the plan for these virtual workouts. Thanks for your leadership, my friend. I hope F3 rewards your efforts when it comes bonus time.
Brexit’s beard continues to grow during COVID. Rumor has it Brexit is stepping up on Thursday to Q a virtual workout. That’s awesome! Please let YHC know if you would like me to provide you with a list of things not to do. 😂 I am creating quite a long list…
Wild Turkey was so eager that he was logged in to the Zoom Room all night. When I logged in during my dry runs (after being stalked by Ed Hannon) I saw a pic of Wild Turkey and his M. I tried speaking to you a few times but there was no response. Y’all do make a good looking couple.
Wingman crushed it this morning and has been putting his skills to use lately on the interwebs to get all this virtual stuff set-up. #virtual-1st. Now that we have a new virtual workout calendar, that gives YHC even more opportunities to erroneously broadcast my dentist appointments and M’s travel schedule to the F3 Nation.
Soft Pretzel put in the work this am. And he also has a sweet minivan like YHC’s. Rock on and thanks for your leadership on the SOB board during these crazy times. #notwhatusignedupfor
Lessons Learned:
1. Don’t cadence count. Instead, do timed exercises or a set number of reps.
2. Do have a designated PAX watch out for problems, monitor Slack at the beginning, and help others get logged into Zoom. Get yourself a Kirby.
3. Don’t use a Chromebook with a weak WiFi signal in your garage.
4. An egg timer would have been helpful.
5. Do watch where you point your crotch during Dollys. You just might be on camera.
Thank you for the opportunity to lead. It is always a pleasure.
~Cooter2
The night before, I checked the weather forecast and it was pretty much all rain all night but then clearing up around launch time. So I wasn’t sure whether (no pun intended) to draw up a Weinke for wet weather or a Weinke for dry weather. So I did both. I mean, you never can go wrong with 2 Weinkes right?? But as I pulled into the parking lot it started to pour down rain so I knew which one I would use. It was definitely a game time decision. I’ve never Q’d an entire workout in the parking deck so here goes nothing…
6 pax and 1 FNG were ready for a good workout so disclaimers were disclaimed and off we went. Here’s what we did:
Mosey to Ballantyne Village to the mouth of the parking deck for COT where we were joined by Fallout who appeared out of thin air. YES!!! He was running late so he parked in the deck and joined right in. Now we had an even 8 pax. I love it when a plan comes together.
-LSS x 10
-IW x 15
-Windmill x 10
-Merkins x 10
-MC x 10
Partner up for some Dora where P1 runs to top of stairs for 3 burpees and back down while P2 starts out on 100 merkins. Flip flop until all done and then switch to 200 LBCs and finally 300 calf raises. Ouch!
Now that we’re all warmed up we moseyed to the parking deck for 20 donkey kicks followed by the Tagalong Run-A-Long (I stole this one from one of Tagalong’s previous Q’s) where we ran up 1.5 levels for 10 jump squats and then back down to bottom for 10 burpees. Rinse and repeat for a total of 4 laps.
Although I had about 8 more exercises on the Weinke, we were getting pretty close on time so we headed back to launch for COT. We got in 2.8 miles all in the parking deck. Plus my calfs were screaming at me after the 300 calf raises. Bad idea.
Moleskin:
There was only 8 of us, due to the rain, but it was a great group! Everyone put in a solid effort. Bucky lead the pack (per the usual) in the Tagalong Run-A-Long. That dude runs like a deer. Mighty Might worked up a sweat and was forced to shed some layers once in the deck. I think I saw a kettlebell fall out of his jacket pocket. Kirby hung back and kept me company – for official site Q precautionary safety reasons of course (😂). Fallout made his grand entrance about 5 minutes into the workout and then was all business the rest of the time. Glad you could join us, Brother! Circuit City is turning into quite a regular these days and keeps getting faster. Keep grinding! Tagalong keeps on crushing it and was right on Bucky’s heels during the Tagalong Run-A-Long. Then there’s Cherie Berry (our FNG) who looked like a veteran pax out there. His hospital name is Otis so the pax landed on the name, Cherie Berry which is awesome. Keep posting Cherie Berry!
It’s always a pleasure to lead!
Announcements:
-need pushers for Run Jen Run on 3/7 in SouthPark. Contact Frasier for details.
-Soft Pretzel told us about a Sandbox event this Saturday helping a family move from 10a-12p. It’s located in CHARLOTTE. Contact him for details.
-Bagpipe is having Respect Month for the month of March, ending with a Double Respect when Chopper takes the Q. Don’t miss out when our senior pax take the wheel.
-Bratwurst and Tigerrag are putting together a 1 mile race during the months of March and April. Hit them up for more info.
-Mighty Might is planning an NCAA watch party – details to come.
It was a warm and windy 66 degree morning at The Fishing Hole. 4 veteran PAX rolled out of the fartsack and here’s what we did:
*Disclaimer was disclaimed.
*Mosey up Little Ave. to the Panera Bread shopping center for COT:
*IW X 15
*Toy Soldier X 10
*LSS X 10
*Little arm circles each way x 20
*Grapevine
*Merkins X 15
*MC X 10
#1 – mosey to base of shopping center for:
*5 burpees and run up the stairs and around and down the stairs and back;
*10 burpees and repeat up and around and down;
*15 burpees and repeat up and around and down.
*people’s chair w/ air presses X 50
#2 – mosey to McMahan Dr. and stopped in middle of street for:
*10 merkins at center
*10 LBC’s at stop sign, then back to center for 10 merkins
*10 jump squats at end of parking lot, then back to center for 10 merkins
*10 heels to heaven at the Wells Fargo, then back to center for 10 merkins
*Repeato
#3 – Mosey the long way around campus and around football field and back to launch for Mary and then we called it.
Moleskin:
It’s always an honor to lead, especially at the Fishing Hole. This is one of my favorite AOs. Not only because it’s the closest one to my house, but it’s also the one that I could always go to when I was recovering from my leg surgery last year. It’s considered a “moderate” workout, but don’t let that fool you. That means lower mileage but higher intensity. With lower mileage, this AO offers plenty of opportunity to modify the called exercises which accommodates those of us who are coming back from injuries, recovering from races, etc. And it’s very FNG friendly. The numbers have been off for a while due to whatever (too many other competing workouts, too cold, too wet, too tired, blah, blah blah) so I was very appreciative when 3 veteran PAX rolled in at 5:27 am ready to put in some work. It’s a great AO with a lot to offer. Come pay us a visit sometime. We’ll make you feel welcomed.
Frehleys stayed busy providing helpful feedback for YHC during the workout. He was particularly thankful for the lengthy COT where we made sure he was all limbered up before getting too far into the workout. However, I don’t think he was so thankful when YHC called out so many burpees at the 1st workout station. I can’t repeat what he said here…
Chopper put in a solid effort as always and continues to amaze me. I hope I can get around the AO like he does when I’m 60. Much respect. We’re also thankful for his clean bill of health from his recent prostate cancer scare. God is good!
Cooter, Sr.’s new job is going well and we’re happy for that. He hasn’t been able to post much lately due to his new work schedule so it was good to have him back out in the gloom. And yes, that makes 2 Cooters at the same workout.
Great work today, men. Thank you for the opportunity to lead.
Announcements:
* Cooter, Sr. takes the Series 7 on Friday, 2/21. Prayers for him while he make final preparations this week.
*Chopper is running the Charlotte 10 miler. Prayers for a safe race.
*Frehleys’ mother-in-law is in the hospital with bronchial issues. Prayers for her healing.
*Prayers for YHC’s friend who’s having another reconstructive surgery stemming from her breast cancer. Cancer sucks.
3 posted on a chilly morn at the Fishing Hole for what was promised to be low mileage and high intensity. Here’s what went down after no disclaimer was disclaimed as there were no FNGs in sight:
COP
Mosey the long way around the football stadium and up the parking deck ramps and circled up for:
*LSS x 15
*Windmill X 15
*Hillbilly X 15
*Little arm circles X 15 each way
*Plank up and stretch calves (is that the plural form of calf?) – Left, then right – this one’s for Bucky
*Mountain Climber X 15
#1 – Mosey down to the bottom floor where YHC explained that we’re going down so we can go back up.
*Up to level 4 = 3 burpees
*Down to level 3 = 3 heels to heaven
*Down to level 2 = 3 merkins
*Down to the bottom again = 3 jump squats
-Rinse and repeat adding 1 rep to each exercise until we ended at lucky 7.
#2 – Mosey to the rock pile and pick out your favorite lifting rock – watch out for winter snakes!
*curls, then presses, then overhead extensions for 10 count each
-repeato por favor with 9 reps of each and continue until 1 rep. Drop your rock.
#3 – Mosey back across campus to the little wall:
*30 dips
*20 step ups (10 each leg)
*10 derkins
*Run to the school and back. Rinse and repeat with 25, 15, and 5 reps, respectively.
#4 – Mosey back to launch for some Mary and time was called.
Moleskin
YHC got there per the usual 5 minutes before launch and almost ran head on into Bucky who was driving in circles asking “where’s the parking lot”? Bucky was received with open arms by Cooter, Sr. and Cooter, Jr. as this was Bucky’s first time posting at The Fishing Hole. Over the holidays he spent some time dunkin’ on some fools and pulled his right calf muscle. So the Fishing Hole was just what Bucky’s doctor ordered – low mileage and high intensity (although you’d never guess he was injured as YHC spent most of the time trying to keep up with him…). Working out with 2 other PAX in freezing weather offers up a unique opportunity to bond with some bros and the mumble chatter was heavy. Cooter, Sr. starts his new job at Vanguard on Monday and is excited to take his next career step. Good luck to you and good work out there this morning!
It was my pleasure to lead again. Thank you for the opportunity!
Announcements
*Keep Chopper in your prayers (we missed you today, Buddy) as he had his prostate biopsy yesterday and is recovering and waiting for some answers.
*Keep Doc McStuffins in your prayers as he has an upcoming heart surgery.
*One year ago yesterday YHC had his last surgery related to his tumor. God is good! Romans 8:28
21 PAX gathered on this perfectly fine morning at the Vine for a Cheddar/Cooter combo Q (sounds like something you would order at Arby’s). YHC rolled in about 3 minutes before launch time to find Cheddar visibly worried that he would be flying solo for this one. All is good. Cheddar got us started off with a reasonable disclaimer and off we went.
Cheddar moseyed us over to a far and distant parking lot for some COP:
Windmills X 10
Mountain Climbers X 10
SSH X 10
Then like a flash, Cheddar was off again heading towards the bridge for some hill work (yikes). We stopped at the bottom of the hill for a brief demo by Cheddar of what would ensue. Kirby acted like he didn’t hear anything Cheddar said (blah, blah, blah), but it didn’t work. 5 burpees waited on us at station 1, 5 bomb jacks (WHAT THE WHAT??!!) at station 2 and then finally when we reached the bridge 5 jump squats at station 3. Repito por favor but this time with 10 at each station. Cheddar wrapped up his half by having us all do “Bear Walks” (you won’t find that one in the Exicon) and merkins at each parking lot line all. the. way. to. the. light. post. (felt like a long way). With that, Cheddar signed off and YHC signed on. Thank you, Cheddar.
Mosey to the pond and over to one of the big buildings for:
20 step ups (10 each leg)
20 derkins (those hurt)
Run to the picnic tables for 20 dips and then on to the next big building for some flutter and LBCs.
From there we ran pretty fast to the rock pile (watch out for snakes) to grab some lifting rocks. Now this is where the story takes a turn for the worst. YHC was day dreaming when he told the PAX that we’d do 10 curls, 10 overhead presses, and 10 tricep extensions with our heavy rocks in civilian count followed by repeated sets of 8, 6, 4, and 2. The PAX got a little bonus workout when we started in military count instead. Thank you, Madame Tussauds for bringing this to light. There may or may not have been some other mishaps as we wrapped up the rock work, but we don’t need to go there do we? Rocks back where they belong and off we went for some more fun.
Over the bridge and through the woods to the big parking lot for some partner work and 3 corners (demo was provided as Mic Check reminded us to not look up – good idea):
Corner 1: P1 planks while P2 does 10 derkins; Switch;
Corner 2: P1 planks while P2 does 10 old school sit ups; Switch
Corner 3: Same as Corner 1
Corner 4: Didn’t happen because time was short so we ran back to the launch for some brief Mary before we called it.
Announcements:
Frazier reminded us about the Crane Relay.
Soft Pretzel told us about the Sandbox prom event on 8/31 for sick kids who will have tuxedos and limos for the night to help forget about their troubles. They need PAX to sign up for security. It may or may not involve security shirts. See Slack channel for more details and to sign up.
Fire Hazard reminded us of the Isabella Santos run on 9/29. It’s the only Speed for Need event in our backyard this year and the PAX should come out and support even if you don’t run in the race. Thin Mint stressed that there will be a lot of good free food at the event.
Atlas announced the upcoming 4 year Indian Land anniversary coming up on Saturday 8/25 at Indian Land Elementary School start time is 6 am. So come on out and help celebrate 4 years down in Indian Land.
Paper Jam asked for volunteers to participate in the Hope Challenge. 10 seconds of awkward silence would be the price to pay if there are no takers. Thank you Delta for sharing your story and spreading the gift of hope.
YHC took us out.
On behalf of Cheddar and myself, it was a pleasure to lead you men today. There was a lot of hard work put in and I hope we can do it all again real soon. A special shout out to Benny for coming back strong after his accident. My man broke all 3 bones in his leg and is back in the gloom. You’re a beast.